Hydrocarbon hydroconversion with a catalyst having interconnected macropores

Claim 1

A process for treating a hydrocarbon feedstock containing at least an appreciable amount of a high-molecular-weight hydrocarbon component, which comprises (I) contacting in a reaction zone a mixture containing said feedstock and hydrogen gas with a hydrotreating catalyst, said contacting including (1) a temperature in the range from about 200° to 540° C, (2) a total pressure in the range from about 1 to 300 atmospheres, (3) a hydrogen partial pressure in the range from about 0 to 200 atmospheres, (4) a hydrogen rate in the range from about 0 to 9000 standard cubic liters of hydrogen per liter of feedstock, and (5) a liquid hourly space velocity in the range from about 0.1 to 25, said catalyst comprising a rigidly interconnected pack of irregularly shaped particles of which (1) less than 5 weight percent thereof have average diameters in the range 0.15 to 1.3 mm, (2) at least 10 weight percent thereof have average diameters in the range above 0.1 micron and (3) the remainder thereof have average diameters in the range below 0.15 mm, said pack having a pore volume of at least 0.065 cc per cc of the pack and having access channels among said particles throughout the pack, said channels comprising interconnected macropores having diameters as measured by mercury porosimetry in the range 0.1 to 15 microns, and said macropores contributing a fraction of said pore volume, which is in the range from about 3 to 45 percent of said pore volume; said particles comprising pulverable materials selected from the group consisting of at least one refractory oxide component and at least one hydrogenating component, said refractory oxide component being further selected from the group consisting of the oxides of the metals of Groups II, III and IV, said hydrogenating component being further selected from the group consisting of the metals, oxides and sulfides of the metallic elements of Groups VIB and VIII; and said composition containing, in parts by weight, for each 100 parts of said refractory oxide component an amount of said hydrogenating component, calculated as metal, in the range from about 0.1 to 50 parts; and (II) withdrawing the resulting treated product from said reaction zone.